What is the origin of the term "assault rifle" and what does it mean now? I'm guessing it has something to do with the number of bullets it can fire in a given length of time, thus making it useful for "assaulting" a position.To my English-major mind, it almost implies there a "defense rifle" out there someplace.

Thank you.

"Assault rifle" - a select fire weapon chambered in an intermediate cartridge, with a detachable (large volume) magazine. It is termed "assault rifle", because it is designed for warfare that is based on fixing and maneuvering as opposed to trench warfare.

In all practical sense, they are no more or less deadly than non-assault sports rifles.

Assault rifle comes from the German SturmGewehr which was the term Hitler assigned to the intermediate cartridge MP44/stg44. Basically the German army studied the fighting from the blitkieg and determined that the average fighting was done at 2-300m, too far for submachinegun rounds to be effective but still not far enough to justify the weight of a full rifle round and weapon platform so they developed an intermediate class weapon which is the basis for the bulk of modern military personel weapons.

FTFA: Richard Coes, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The weapons include assault rifles that Coes described as "AK-style."

So, not reporter, also, it's better than the usual reporter saying that they were AK-47 School-Seeking Baby-Killers. AK style is actually a really legit description. I doubt anyone outside of collectors and enthusiasts would have understood what they were if he'd called them by their actual model name. The average reader isn't going to know what a WASR10, M76, SA M7, PSL-54c, Romak III, M70, M90, Type 56, or even the Vz58 is. (No, the Vz58 is not actually an AK platform but looks like it)

So, I think the description is pretty appropriate in this case.

Now, this just pisses me off as it's going to increase the cost to me at one of the various wholesalers I use.....